Mulch Along the Boulevard Brings Cheers

Workers spreading mulch alongside Topanga Canyon Boulevard by Caltrans in
December is the beginning of an herbicide-free zone for roadside maintenance.

County officials, members of the Topanga Canyon Boulevard Roadside Committee (TCBRC) and Topanga residents rejoiced when word came down from Caltrans, that the Boulevard would be intermittently closed in both directions from Pacific Coast Highway (SR-1) to Navajo Lane, Thursday, December 12, and Friday, December 13, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., while maintenance crews applied mulch along the highway to reduce weeds and other fire hazards.

This was one of the results agreed upon by the TCBRC who met throughout the past year to find alternative solutions to roadside spraying of herbicides.

While delays are never welcome, Patrick Chandler of Caltrans said delays were not expected to last more than a minute but if traffic were heavy they could last longer.

With the notice, the e-mails flew back and forth among members of the committee. Thank you Caltrans! Thank you TCBRC! On our way, exulted Susan Nissman, Sr. Field Deputy to Sup. Zev Yaroslavsky, who facilitated the meetings.

This is awesome, the moment we have all been waiting for, wrote Ben Allanoff of the Topanga Creek Watershed Committee. Caltrans is actually using mulch instead of poison to suppress weeds!

This is worth a celebration, cheered Julie Rosendo, whose husband and 2013 Chamber president Joseph Rosendo was on the committee. Thank you to everyone for all the time and effort to make this happenWhoo-hoo!

This is super exciting, said Kara Seward, District Director for State Sen. Fran Pavley.

When Nissman responded to the projected delays with Worth every minute! Chandler replied: Give 'em a honk and a thumbs up when you see them.